Comments on: Glenn Gould and the Goldberg Variations

By: Barry Meislin

Barry Meislin — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 12:07:10 +0000

GG’s Russian Journey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9KnOcG51LM

Enjoy!

By: Gringo

Gringo — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 15:57:02 +0000

Tim Page Tim Page accepted The Grammy Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Glenn Gould at the Special Merit Awards Ceremony & Nominees Reception in 2013. Tim Page is also the editor of The Glenn Gould Reader. Tim Page's memoir, Parallel Play, which recounts his growing up with diagnosed Aspberger's Syndrome, is dedicated to Glenn Gould among others. According to Tim, he and Glenn Gould had more in common than just a love of music: Tim Page: ‘Glenn Gould had a lot of autism.'

By: Mac

Mac — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 15:12:25 +0000

The Goldbergs are one of my very favorite pieces of music. I like Gould’s two versions about equally on an absolute scale, but for different reasons. I love the exuberance of the earlier one.

By: jgzyla

jgzyla — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 13:05:26 +0000

If you’d like to watch something REALLY eccentric, watch the movie “Thirty two short films about Glenn Gould”. Gene Siskel liked it. I thought it was perplexing.

By: The Other Chuck

The Other Chuck — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 12:24:44 +0000

I agree that Landowska got it right. The harpsichord she used with the stops and dampers makes all the difference, very reminiscent of organs. The variations come alive.

By: The Other Chuck

The Other Chuck — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 12:15:06 +0000

Thank you for the direction to Landowska.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWD-JvJ-6yk

By: Arnaud Amalric

Arnaud Amalric — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 03:36:45 +0000

Google YouTube’s 1933 recording of Landowska playing the Goldberg Variations.

By: Arnaud Amalric

Arnaud Amalric — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 03:35:03 +0000

It’s always tempting to get into arguments about who is more Catholic than the Pope (plenty these days, FWIW) when it comes to musical authenticity.

I certainly agree that away from Bach, Gould wasn’t quite the thing.

Landowska was criticised (of all things) for playing excessively Baroque harpsichords! In a way, though, I think she got it right: she purchased original exemplars and commissioned new models of the type of ‘big’ blinged out harpsichord that would have been used by court musicians and the aristocracy. What we hear too often today, are the rather more austere, unadorned, burgher did well in the dry goods trade owner type harpsichords favoured by the ‘original instruments’ fanatics who often seem to love austerity more than music.

By: The Other Chuck

The Other Chuck — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 02:30:29 +0000

Gould seems to me somewhat of a contradiction. He relished Baroque music for the counterpoint, polyphony, and strict structure. And yet he took great liberties with it almost like a romantic. He did everything wrong with his keyboard technique, but still managed to make great music – as long as he kept to Bach. His interpretation of Romantic composers like Brahms was way off the mark.

I like the earlier version. It has more life. The last one was thoughtful but plodding and reminds me of a particularly gruesome scene in Silence Of The Lambs.

By: Geoffrey Britain

Geoffrey Britain — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 01:47:49 +0000

I too much prefer the second version and for the same reasons. I imagine that Bach would have as well.

FWIW, it’s said that Bach could play every instrument in the orchestra excellently and when commented upon, he expressed puzzlement, responding, “but… it’s just a matter of putting the right finger, in the right spot, at the right time…” 😉

I never was much of a fan of either Gould or Bach’s overly cerebral music (IMO). For me, Vladimir Horowitz is the standard to whom all other pianists are compared. But then, when it comes to classical music, I’m a romantic classisist.